Three churches worked together to sponsor a community-wide revival. It was a rare demonstration of cooperation for the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. When the revival was over, the three pastors got together to evaluate the revival’s success. The Methodist minister was pleased. “We gained four families,” he said.

The Baptist preacher chimed in. “We did even better than that! We gained six new families!”

Reluctantly, the Presbyterian said, “This was the best revival our church has ever had. We got rid of the ten families who were our biggest trouble-makers!”

I once had a denominational leader ask if our church would start a new church.

“What do you want from us?” I asked.

He said, “We need families to leave your church to be a part of the new congregation. How many families are you willing to send us?”

I responded, “It depends. If you pick the families, I’ll give you five. But if I get to pick which families leave, I’ll give you 15.”

Or course, real revival isn’t about numbers of people joining a church. But when revival comes to your life, you will never be the inspiration for a column like this!